10 Quotes to Remember When Implementing Salesforce

When implementing Salesforce, here are just a few of the things you’ll need to plan: setting up your org, introducing your company to the platform, providing training for your end users and initiating your team’s adoption. And each of those activities can seem overwhelming in itself.

Tame implementation-induced anxiety by remembering that you only need to get your Salesforce org to a good starting point; it will, and must, continuously evolve after its launch. Then just consider these quotes (all from the Salesforce experts featured in our “Getting Started with Salesforce” eBook) as you work on getting the platform ready to go:

1. “Often, the first thing that people do is start focusing on the technology. However, in my experience, the most successful companies recognize that they should first focus on the business process. The solution becomes much more powerful when the technology aligns with the business objectives.” – John Durocher, EVP, salesforce.com‘s Customers for Life

2. “The number one adoption issue is: ‘I don’t know the system.’ It’s like giving your keys to a 10 year old.” – Micaiah Filkins, President & Co-founder, Force by Design

3. “Much too often, the person designing and implementing Salesforce does so from their own perspective of how a salesperson works day-to-day. They need to be thinking of the unique realities and workflows of what a salesperson does daily to ensure what’s being developed will make them more effective and intelligent sellers.” – Bob Marsh, CEO, LevelEleven

4. “There are a lot of great free tools on the AppExchange, like the AppExchange Dashboard Pack. It’s free, and I put it in everybody’s org. Leverage the AppExchange to come up with free tools that you can kind of hang your hat on.” – Micaiah Filkins, President & Co-founder, Force by Design

5. “Ask: ‘How can Salesforce enable me to do that better, faster, cheaper?’ Then develop a roadmap of capabilities you can deliver to support that.” – John Durocher, EVP, salesforce.com’s Customers for Life

6. “Don’t get too bedazzled by the technology, and don’t get so far into the technology that you forget you’re there to solve problems.” – Micaiah Filkins, President & Co-founder, Force by Design

7. “Have you changed the end users’ experience in terms of the process? Have you come up with what’s in it for them? Make sure you address these two things when speaking to the end user. They’ll ask: ‘I’m a salesperson, how is it making my life easier? I’m an operations person, how is it making my life easier?’ You should always be able to tell that story. It’s not a one size fits all.” – John Durocher, EVP, salesforce.com’s Customers for Life

8. “People ask me: ‘Why can’t I just configure the system myself?’ The answer is, you likely can, if you can spare someone that knows your business very well for about two months to do nothing but study Salesforce. They would then have the technical aptitude to do the job. However, they still would not have the many years of experience to know what actually works well and what seems like it would work well. They would not understand the nuances of the data model and would likely not be writing Apex code. If they can do all that after 8 weeks, have them call me – I have a raise for them.” – Micaiah Filkins, President & Co-founder, Force by Design

9. “Get support from the most senior people in the company – ideally the CEO – on communicating to people the importance of using Salesforce and the value that it will provide them.” – Bob Marsh, CEO, LevelEleven

10. “Oftentimes people think of this as the Big Bang, or ‘I’ve got one shot to get this in.’ However, you want to start with the idea that this is not a once and done thing. The most successful implementations have an ongoing plan in place for after the implementation is complete.” – John Durocher, EVP, salesforce.com’s Customers for Life

If you want more quotes, or additional advice on implementing Salesforce in general, check out the eBook: “Getting Started with Salesforce: What NOT to Do.” Here’s to a successful implementation.

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